For the second year in a row, our East Africa team is helping organizations in our network to scale up through targeted support from expert consultants.
Thanks to funding from USAID East Africa, we invited select East African innovators in the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD) to submit proposals outlining strategic projects that would benefit from outside expertise. Innovators applied for funds to hire consulting firms to assist them with high impact capacity building projects. SEAD team members reviewed the proposals and selected five projects for funding. Five firms – Think Place, Vera Solutions, Intellecap Advisors, Open Capital Advisors, and BTL Consulting – were matched with innovators. Some $81K in SEAD funds will be provided directly to the firms to complete the project activities with innovators.
The Innovators selected included: Safe Water and AIDS Project (SWAP), LifeNet International, MicroClinic Technologies, Afya Research Africa, and ZanaAfrica.
The types of projects funds will go toward include:
- Developing a business and funding plan to include setting growth goals, identifying overall funding needs, type of funding and key funder mapping.
- Developing a sales and marketing process that addresses customer preferences.
- Identifying and implementing the right platforms for data collection
These funds are just one example of how innovators in our network are matched with the resources they need. Innovations in Healthcare is currently accepting nominations for new innovators through September 16th Through a competitive selection process, innovators are chosen to join our network based on the strength of their innovation, their readiness to scale, and the financial sustainability of their approach. Once selected into the network, innovators receive a variety of support including great showcasing opportunities, access to our student internship program, peer learning opportunities and more.
If you are interested in nominating your organization or an organization you think would be a great fit, for our network, please click here.